I recently received an obviously 100% AI-generated answer to an important and serious question from a very esteemed colleague. And was at a loss at first.

𝗪𝗶𝗲𝘀𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗰𝗵𝘁 𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝘀? 𝗪𝗶𝗲𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗶𝘁 𝘂𝗺?

I have to admit, it felt pretty strange! When my counterpart “doesn’t even bother” to respond personally to my request and instead comes back with chat-GPT-generated, 0815-soft-spoken content with no opinion of his own. I could have done that myself. At first I felt that was disrespectful.

𝗠𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗯𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗰𝗵 𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗷𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗻, 𝘂𝗺 𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗲 / 𝗶𝗵𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼̈𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗮̈𝘁𝘇𝘂𝗻𝗴 / 𝗘𝗿𝗳𝗮𝗵𝗿𝘂𝗻𝗴 𝘇𝘂 𝗯𝗲𝗸𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻 – 𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝗸𝗮𝗻𝗻 𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗺𝗲𝗶𝗻 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗮𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗸𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗶 𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗞𝗜 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗻.

On the other hand… maybe the colleague is under stress and takes the individual advantage of AI to save time or formulate emails better? Perhaps he would rather enter a short prompt with his idea and leave the time-consuming formulation to the AI? Maybe he meant it in a totally appreciative way and didn’t want to do anything “wrong” with his answer and therefore consulted the AI?

𝗗𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝘂𝗻𝗸𝘁 𝗶𝘀𝘁: 𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗲𝗶ß 𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗵𝘁… !

And that’s why there’s only one solution, and a very simple one at that:

𝗔𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗻, 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻, 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗻, 𝘇𝘂𝗵𝗼̈𝗿𝗲𝗻, 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗵𝗲𝗻.
It also worked wonderfully in our case and we were able to resolve the matter quickly and easily.

Unfortunately, I also know that talking is such an issue in many projects / relationships. And that not every team has an open and constructive relationship with each other. Then such emails can quickly lead to resentment.

In such an environment, it could easily happen that you let your colleague down. Pestering him with awkward questions about “his” answer, exposing him in front of the whole team. And the mood in the project would have plummeted.

𝗙𝘂̈𝗿 𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝘇𝗲𝗶𝗴𝘁 𝗱𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗵𝗿, 𝘄𝗶𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗰𝗵𝘁𝗶𝗴 𝗱𝗮𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗮 𝗞𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗸𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗭𝗲𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘃𝗼𝗻 𝗞𝗜 𝗶𝘀𝘁 / 𝘄𝗶𝗿𝗱. 𝗗𝗲𝗻𝗻 𝗮𝘂𝗰𝗵, 𝘄𝗲𝗻𝗻 𝗞𝗜 𝗶𝗻 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗻 𝗙𝗮̈𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝘀𝗲𝗶𝗻 𝗸𝗮𝗻𝗻 – 𝘄𝗶𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗻𝗶𝗲 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗻, 𝗱𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝘂𝗳 𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝗲𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗞𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗸𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝗶𝗻 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗰𝗵 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘇𝘁!

Dear XXX, thank you for getting me to think and to put things in order with your answer. This is really very helpful!

#informatikersindcool#auweiacommunication#speechisimportant

P.S.: I discussed this article with XXX in advance. This resulted in many exciting thought-provoking ideas. More on this in future posts.